1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to installing devices, and more particularly electrical devices, along trunking projecting from a wall and housing and protecting electrical conductors or cables connected to the devices.
In the present context the term xe2x80x9ctrunkingxe2x80x9d has the usual meaning of a duct including a base section which is adapted to be applied to the wall and has an open cross section and a cover section which is attached to the base section, for example clipped to it, to close it.
The form of trunking referred to in the present context generally has small dimensions and is also referred to as a molding.
The present invention is directed more particularly to the situation in which devices are installed along trunking by means of a housing including a frame which is adapted to be attached to the wall and to form the housing for the device concerned and has an opening along one side which in use extends alongside the trunking and a canopy which extends from the frame, in corresponding relationship with the opening, and is adapted to cover the trunking locally, in practice extending transversely over the base section of the trunking, between two lengths of cover section.
One of the problems to be overcome in making this kind of housing is that trunking is available in various widths and heights.
2. Description of the Prior Art
To solve this problem, the document FR 2 595 513 proposes dissociating the canopy from the frame of the housing and inserting it to a greater or lesser distance into the frame, according to the width or height of the trunking.
However, for any surplus length of the canopy inside the housing not to interfere with the other components therein it is necessary to cut the canopy accordingly, to cut off the surplus length, which commensurately complicates installation.
The document EP 0 633 639 proposes a canopy that can be removed from the frame of the housing, whose width matches the width or height of the trunking to which the housing is to be attached, and which has on one edge clips which cooperate with the edge of the opening in the frame of the housing to fasten the canopy to the frame. This implies that a canopy matching one trunking width or height can be substituted for another canopy matching a different trunking width or height.
However, this leads to costly multiplication of fabrication, which is to the detriment of the overall cost of the system.
A general object of the present invention is an arrangement of the frame and the canopy of the housing that avoids the disadvantages referred to above.
To be more precise, the invention provides a housing for devices to be disposed along trunking projecting from a wall, which housing includes a frame adapted to be attached to the wall and to form the housing for the device, an opening along one side adapted to adjoin the trunking and a canopy which extends from the frame in corresponding relationship with the opening to cover the trunking locally and transversely, which canopy has a mobile part provided with two parallel arms which are slidably mounted inside the frame so that the mobile part of the canopy can be located relative to the frame telescopically in a series of predefined stable positions corresponding to different widths of trunking.
Accordingly, it is sufficient to adjust the position of the mobile part of the canopy relative to the frame to adapt the length of the canopy to the width or height of the associated trunking.
According to one particularly advantageous feature of the housing according to the invention, each arm of the mobile part of the canopy includes an abutment adapted to cooperate with an abutment at the end of a flexible blade fastened to the frame and facing toward the corresponding arm.
The cooperating abutments advantageously constitute fastening and guiding means for the mobile part of the canopy and the frame which enable final assembly of the two parts of the housing, in particular during fabrication of the housing. This also facilitates fitting of the combination by the installer, reduces the overall size of the combination to be packaged, and facilitates packaging it.
According to another preferred feature of the housing according to the invention, the canopy has a fixed part fastened to the frame.
In particular, the fixed part of the canopy is formed with the frame and includes a front part which extends from the opening of the frame over some of the height of the front wall of the frame of the housing and two lateral walls each extending a lateral wall of the frame of the housing and the mobile part of the canopy has a front wall with two parallel lateral edges extended by the arms and an end wall extending perpendicularly to the front wall from its front edge opposite the arms, the front wall of the mobile part of the canopy being adapted to slide under the front wall of its fixed part.
Accordingly, any surplus length of the mobile part of the canopy is advantageously concealed under its fixed part, without projecting into the frame of the housing, and thus without interfering with other components present in the housing.
Other advantageous and non-limiting features of the housing in accordance with the invention are as follows:
one of the front walls of the fixed and mobile parts of the canopy includes a series of notches staggered over its height and the other of the front walls includes a rib adapted to cooperate with the notches to locate the mobile part of the canopy in a series of stable positions relative to its fixed part;
the notches are provided on an inside face of the front wall of the fixed part of the canopy and the rib projects a small distance from an outside face of the front wall of its mobile part;
one of the front walls of the fixed and mobile parts of the canopy includes a series of ribs staggered over its height and the other of the front walls includes a notch adapted to cooperate with the ribs to locate the mobile part of the canopy in a series of stable positions relative to its fixed part;
the notch is provided on an inside face of the front wall of the fixed part of the canopy and the ribs project a small distance from an outside face of the front wall of its mobile part;
the fixed part of the canopy is fastened to the frame and includes a front wall extending the front wall of the frame of the housing, the height of the front wall corresponding to the width of the trunking in order to close the trunking locally and transversely, and the mobile part has an end wall from which the arms extend perpendicularly, the end wall being adapted to be placed at the free end of the front wall, perpendicularly thereto;
the arms and the frame are provided with complementary immobilizing means to define a series of stable positions of the mobile part of the canopy relative to the frame, corresponding to different widths of the associated trunking;
the complementary immobilizing means include notches provided at different heights on outside edges of the arms and adapted to cooperate with a rib provided on an inside face of each of the corresponding lateral walls of the frame;
notches provided at different heights on inside faces of corresponding lateral walls of the frame cooperate with a knob provided on an outside edge of each of the arms;
the complementary immobilizing means include a series of detents provided on the arms cooperating with two complementary abutments formed at the end of two flexible blades provided on the frame and facing the arms;
the frame has a front opening for a portion of the device accessible to user and each arm has a width matching that of a space between an inside face of one lateral edge of the front opening and the inside face of the lateral wall of the frame facing the corresponding lateral edge so that the interior space forms a groove in which the arm slides; and
the arms slide in grooves formed on inside faces of the two lateral walls of the frame.